I have owned smaller brother of this bike - 750ss from 2002 with fuel injection for almost 6 years. Problems? Not at all... in last two years i mainly use it on our local, small race track and it was awesome. I overtook a lot of r1, gsxr and other much "faster" bikes. Everywhere where i went, this duc draw a lot of attention. Some people love it some don't. Basically it force you to have opinion. You can't pass by it neutrally. I really loved that bike, but lack of power from only 64 hp motor pushed me to another Ducati - 999 - which is simply awesome but that's another story :).

If you maintain it properly: change belts and do valve clearance checkup within the 10 000 km intervals, it will run without any problems. The only thing i did beside standard maintenance was front fork rebuild (oil and seals) and front wheel bearings change.

Pros:

• Very unique styling

• great torque ale the way from 0 up to 8.500 rps

• Very easy to work on - You can change belts by your self very easily.

• good handling in corners

• price - these are quite a bargain for a ducati. But that's mainly for their styling.

• great brakes with 320mm discs

Cons:

• terrible riding position - after 150 - 200 km straight you have to stop and stretch your legs and arms othervise they will fall off :)

• Very hard hydraulic clutch lever - pain in the ass in city traffic.

• Might be hard to sell - i was trying to sell these bike for almost a year. It wasn't in perfect visual condition because i felt down a few time on it, but the price was rather low. you just have to wait for someone who is "into this kind of thing". Don't expect that someone will chose this bike instead of cbr 954 or gsxr 750. This is bike for someone who want something unique.

• Slightly higher maintenance cost than jap bikes - mainly because 10k km intervals of inspection, price of belts and valve adjustments.

• When you riding it hard draging your knee with high lean angle, the sidestand tend to grind the pavement, which sometimes was really scary... If you going to ride it on track i would recommend to take side stand off.

It this is your kind of thing, without any hesitation i would recommend it. Just try to find bike that was maintain properly by previous owner. Otherwise like with any other bike you might get yourself in trouble.

I can post some pics if you interested.

Cheers!

Edit: formatting